Ficly Rules of Etiquette : Read, Comment, Rate, Write.
I’m old. Real old. I’m so old I remember when dialing a phone number actually involved using a dial.
I’ve worked as a projectionist, an armored car driver, a computer help desk tech, a museum tech and laserist, an historical interperter at Old Sturbridge Village, a university assistant at a planetarium and observatory. I’ve been a salesman, a techie, A union VP and a storyteller. I remember the Gemini missions, but was born after sputnik. I have a love of History, Technology, Space, my religion (Christianity) and my country. I believe there is more that binds us together than can tear us apart.
I’ve loved many, married one, was involuntarily divorced, and found love again.
I’ve crested the hill and am picking up speed as I head down life’s log flume ride.
Oh and I suppose I should tell you. I don’t understand your music and when it comes to sports, I don’t care if the Red Sox beat the 49’ers for the Stanley cup or not. Not judging, it’s just me.
Stories
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PB&J for Dummies, A dummy Challenge Part III
Rotate the lid of the peanut butter jar in a counter clockwise direction. You will at times have to reposition your fingers to continue the rotation. Failure to periodically reposition may result in torsion fractures and other injuries to your arm. Con...
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PB&J for Dummies, A dummy Challenge Part Deux
Assume for the sake of the discussion that it is a sunny day and that you live in the northern hemisphere. At approximately noon, each day, the sun will be in the sky. As you turn to face the sun you will be facing in a primarily southerly direction. T...
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PB&J for Dummies, A dummy Challenge Part one
First assemble the following; 1 Jar of Peanut Butter 1 Jar of Grape Jelly 2 Slices of white bread, non toasted 1 Knife, non-serrated, rounded tip 1 Teaspoon, non-serrated, rounded tip 1 Reasonably flat and firm horizontal surface 1 Family Dog Place all...
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Murder
“A call to the Brotherhood was all it took to convince them that Arnold needed to be eliminated. A time and place was agreed to. All that was needed was to get Arnold there.” “I told Arnold to meet me in civilian clothes outside of an American ba...
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Without a Clue, Checkov Gun Challenge
The Colonel stood breathing heavily over the body. The deed was done. He stooped to wipe the blade of the dagger on the dead mans clothes. He took the now clean blade and put it into the large envelope. What little blood there was, clung to the body. H...
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Warning on the Ford, Speak Shakespearean Challenge
Anon Take Care, for in this silvered glass, which doth reflect the world unto thee, the subjects of thy visage, the objects of thy gaze, may, perceived by thee, be nearer anon unto thee than thou dost cogitate, and therefore, present to thee a dire dan...
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The Last Message
It was months after opening that last drawer that I realized that there was one other place I might find another message from Janice. It took me weeks of research and visiting several parishes in and around the city before I found it. The stone was gra...
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The Last Drawer
That last drawer was the final chance. The last message from the past reaching out to me. Did the impossible happen again? Would she have received my reply. And if so, what would she say? My mind alternated between dismissing this as foolishness and fe...
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A leap of faith
I sat and stared at the paper in my hand. Somehow the impossible was happening. A young woman penned her thoughts and I was able to answer them. I reread her letter. And with each reading it was as though her image in my mind became clearer. I could se...
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Her Letter
Would that you and I could sit and talk. I feel as though I could spend hours just listening to you. Yet it isn’t mere curiosity of what the future holds that would have me hanging on your words. That you could read my letter and not call me foolish ...
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The second drawer
The letter had been found behind the left most of the half columns. I griped the center one and pulled. It slid out easily and inside was another envelope. I turned it in my hands and saw it was addressed, Mr. James Dough. I opened the envelope and rea...
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Foolish
I took the letter I had written and put it into an envelope. I put one of the two cent stamps bearing the green likeness of George Washington on it, and walked to the old post office. The corner stone indicated that it had been built in 1855, but had b...
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Reply
Dear Miss Willow, I find it hard to believe that I am even doing this, but after finding your letter hidden in my desk, I haven’t been able to get it and you out of my mind. How could I possibly read your letter? You left it in the hidden drawer of t...
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Obsessive
I replaced the letter back in the envelope and returned it to it’s drawer. That letter weighed on my thoughts over the next few days. That young woman, writing to the man she hoped one day to marry. That the letter stayed in the secret drawer was a p...
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Missive
Father thinks that I spend too much time with my books. He says that too much reading will fill my head with notions that are beyond my poor ability to comprehend. I think he is wrong. I have read the classics, Ovid, Virgil, Dante. I am even fond of so...
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The Letter, (Not following the challenge theme)
Many years ago some optimistic spider had built a web inside that drawer. I brushed aside the web and examined the envelope. It was yellow with age and made of parchment. The envelope was addressed in a flowing and neat script that kids today simply ar...
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The Letter
Many years ago some optimistic spider had built a web inside that drawer. I brushed aside the web and examined the envelope. It was yellow with age and made of parchment. The envelope was addressed in a flowing and neat script that kids today simply ar...
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The Secretary Desk
The apartment I rented was on the second floor of an old Victorian house in what was once the fashionable side of town. I loved the turret and the windows looking out onto the street. My bedroom was small and the living room was probably once a sitting...
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Now playing in Cinema 12
Now Appearing at the Athenaeum Theatre by command of their August Majesties Theseus, Duke of Athens and Hippolyta Queen of the Amazons, for a limited engagement. The Independent Film and Most Lamentable Comedy, Pyramus and Thisbe. SEE the adventures of...
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Politically Incorrect
President Barack Hussein Obama met with Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid to discuss their plans for the nation.
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Local News
I turned the TV in the hospital onto the local new. Reports about how the Day of Ashura was more peaceful than expected. More than two million people had visited the shrines and the Shi’a got to call for “Death to America and Death to Israe...
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New Toys
General Kemper came to visit us in the hospital. He brought me my jacket that I had left in the helicopter and a little bit of news. It seems that if we hadn’t stopped the attack when we did the military did have a back up plan in place. An F-16 was ...
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Hospital
My memories of what happened next are disjointed. I remember feeling wind in my hair, and a voice saying I was going to be all right. I remember feeling my clothes being cut off me and being washed. Was I dead? Were they preparing me for burial? I saw ...
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Death
A hissing sound accompanied the smoke as I ran to the back of the ambulance and threw open the doors. I saw a machine plugged into an electrical outlet in the back panel and struggled into the ambulance. My vision was blurred and it seemed darker than ...
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Shahada
I was rolling to my knees when I saw a flash of white step out from around the back of the ambulance. Clarke shouted "DOWN!!´and shoved Rodgers hard into the shelving. I heard a three round burst and saw three holes in Clarke’s uniform quic...
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Six Tango's Down
The terrorists were dressed in their CBRN suits with hood and masks donned. They stood around a Hummer that had prominent large white squares and a red crosses painted on its sides, back and front. Rodgers had fired a three round burst into the first t...
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Rush
When I reached the bottom I unslung my rifle and crouched behind Rodgers and Clarke. We were between two rows of shelves lined with tires that formed an alcove against one wall of the garage. Rodgers advanced to the end of the alcove with Clarke close ...
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Roof
The Blackhawk sped away and we three were alone on the roof. An air conditioning unit hummed on the roof next to an access hatch that lead into the interior of the building. “I’ll go first, then Clarke, then you,” Rodgers said pointing at me last...
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Helo
“Stay with the helo. They’ll get you to someplace safe,” Rodgers said. “The hell I will,” I shouted back. “Do you think you can take on what’s down there with just two men? Gimme a fuckin’ rifle. You don’t have time to argue.” Rodge...
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Observers No More
The Kiowas were in formation, one behind the other. They were slowing down and coming into hover above the garage. Less than 50 yards away, on a nearby building roof top, a man stood up and brought an RPG to his shoulder. From my vantage there was no n...
